posted at 8:02 pm on November 10, 2011 by Allahpundit

The full clip won’t be available until tomorrow but we all know how it’s going to go, so the two items here should tide you over. I’m not one of the people who believes, counterintuitively, that last night’s atomic gaffe will end up helping his campaign, but I do understand their logic. Perry’s never been more sympathetic than he is right now: We’ve all suffered that same form of vapor lock and he’s been a gamer today in doing damage control by determinedly making fun of himself for it. (He’ll swing by Jon Stewart’s show after taping Letterman to be flogged for his sins there too.) The problem is, likability was never Perry’s problem. If it was, as it is with Romney, this comedy tour would do him a world of good. His problem is that he consistently seems not ready for primetime and none of the self-deprecation undoes that. Jonah Goldberg:

[P]ut aside the queasy awkwardness of the moment for a second. Perry couldn’t remember that he wants to shut down the Department of Energy!? For weeks, energy reform was the only substantive policy he’d put forward. Energy is still one of the only topics he can discuss with anything approaching fluency. But he couldn’t remember he wanted to shut down DOE? It’d be more understandable if he forgot the Department of Commerce — people forget the existence of the Commerce Department all of the time.

Last, and this is a point a lot of people are making, but it’s an important one. His performance last night confirmed — with an exclamation point — the negative narrative of his entire campaign. Everyone could forgive Ron Paul if he spaced out on the name of a cabinet agency he wanted to shutter, because everyone knows that Ron Paul knows what he knows and has no problem explaining himself under normal circumstances. People are much more unsure about Perry and he compounded that uncertainty last night. It’s fine to say everyone has these bad moments. That’s true. Everyone makes mistakes. What you look for are patterns. Last night was so deadly because Perry reinforced his pattern rather than deviated from it. And he was already on borrowed time.

Exactly. Campaigns are all about narratives, and the Perry narrative since virtually the first debate is that he’s never quite sure what he’s talking about unless he’s talking about Texas. Last night was the exclamation point. Over at the Examiner, Byron York attributes that to two probably fatal weaknesses:

The first is that Perry, for all his success as governor of Texas, appears not to have thought long and hard about why he wants to be president and what he would do if he achieved his goal. It’s the kind of intense thinking that goes on long before a campaign actually starts; once the candidate is on the trail, it’s too late for soul-searching, self-evaluation, and in-depth study. It’s hard for a candidate to have a firm grounding in issues and policy if he has not first done that kind of thinking.

The second reason is that since Perry made the decision to run for president — jumping in at the late date of August 13 — he has not done much of the kind of day-in, day-out, speaking-six-times-a-day campaigning that gives candidates the ability to repeat their positions extemporaneously, backward and forward, and sometimes in their sleep.

Look at Perry’s public schedule for the last month. It was plenty busy, but it wasn’t filled with the town halls and question-and-answer sessions that allow candidates to hone their message.

To some extent, Romney’s also guilty of those charges. He does do Q&A’s with voters, but he’s famously avoided the extended interview format of the Sunday morning chat shows because he doesn’t want to be quizzed on flip-flops for any length of time. I get no sense from him that he’s thought long and hard about why he wants to be president either, merely that he does want to be president — badly enough that he’ll say whatever he has to in order to win. It’s the intensity of that ambition, I think, that most keenly separates him from Perry. It’s impossible to imagine Romney spacing at a debate because we all assume he practices his answers for hours and hours and hours on end in the interest of winning. Perry seems more inclined to trust his gut and his track record of victory in Texas: He practices, I’m sure, but not like the robo-frontrunner does. Last night, when he went to the mental script, it just wasn’t there when he needed it. And now even Newt’s making fun of him for it.

Here’s the Letterman clip plus more damage control with Megyn Kelly this afternoon. He does a good job with the top ten, but there’s a lot of pathos in seeing him forced to stoop to this after he rode into the race three months ago as the conservative savior. Out: Rick Perry. In: Rupert Pupkin? Exit question via Nate Silver: Should he go for broke now in Iowa? He’s reached the point poll-wise where, if he doesn’t win there, he’s basically finished.

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Churchill was a stutterer, Churchill often vomited before major speeches, and for years, Churchill would freeze in the middle of his speeches and not recall what to say…so all of you saying Perry is a fool, you also would have not supported Churchill, the man probably most attributed to keeping Europe free.
The irony, the first election after the war, Churchill was voted out…probably because of the same mentality that is attacking Perry.
Fickle voters…fickle posters…

Only if you have never spoken in public, or have never known anyone that has made a living doing that…it has happened to every speaker, every actor, every politician at some time…
I saw it as just someone so involved in the moment, they lose their train of thought…the only people that has never happened to, is people who have never thought…

The flip side to the brain freeze? All the free EXTENDED coverage Perry received today. He was on so many shows, given extended time to clarify his stances, it was amazing! I learned more about his beliefs in those interviews than I learned in the debates. I’ll trade a 53 second blunder any day to learn what I learned today! He wasn’t limited to 30 second responses. Talk about making lemonade…

I get no sense from him that he’s thought long and hard about why he wants to be president either, merely that he does want to be president — badly enough that he’ll say whatever he has to in order to win. It’s the intensity of that ambition, I think, that most keenly separates him from Perry. It’s impossible to imagine Romney spacing at a debate because we all assume he practices his answers for hours and hours and hours on end in the interest of winning.

Allah,
Way to rope something about Romney in here to hit him on where Romney has facts at his command not something he has “practiced” over and over. Romney KNOWS why he wants to be president and lays it out there every day…read his website. He putting out policies or Op-Ed pieces every single week.

These are the type of attacks by you and Rush and others that are unfair when someone else crashes you all have to somehow make a comment about Romney when he was not even part of the flub up no matter what it was whether it be the Perry brain fart or the Cain accusations or whatever, Romney has to get brought in to the conversation. That is weak.

Honestly, I think some people are reading way too much into this. Brain freeze happens. It happens to us all. And it’s not because the guy isn’t familiar with his topic or because it’s not important to him. Heck, I’ve seen people blank out on the name of their own child. And it’s certainly not because they aren’t prioritizing or aren’t familiar. It’s a blip in brain function, a momentary loss of access to stored information. Nothing more than that.

It’s a blip in brain function, a momentary loss of access to stored information. Nothing more than that.

Murf76 on November 11, 2011 at 7:47 AM

Tell that to the media if Perry becomes the nominee. They will morph him into a Alzheimer’s sufferer or maybe even a Down’s Syndrome adult. Whatever it takes to smash him to bits. Honesty died in them during the Clenis regime. Don’t even expect basic human decency this time around.

If for no other reason, via “oops” we know that Rick Perry can poke fun of himself and take being the brunt of a joke.

That’s no reason to mount a wrong on a wrong as if to make a right.

Rick Perry’s manager should have insisted on clearing the “Top 10″ before sending Perry out to be not-funny. It could have been a plus, but went flat, the lines being DUMB instead of clever. Block should have had license with Perry’s script.

Hey, he had a brain freeze. Get over it.
The usual suspects in the media will use this for their usual attacks. Like that’s news. This might end up helping him or not.
Stranger things have happened. In any event, it’s over.
I don’t support Perry for President, I would rather have him remain as governor in my state, so I’m not a fanboy. I do think that this points out the need to get rid of the gotcha format and go with the Lincoln Douglas format. You learn more and candidates get to amplify their beliefs and plans.

I mean seriously, you attack Perry for not “coming up with his own ideas”, yet you support a guy who takes both sides of every idea and the one idea he did have was stolen by Obama.

If you really want an idea man, you should support Gingrich as I do.

Daemonocracy on November 10, 2011 at 11:22 PM

Your assumptions of who I support and why show you to be the stupidest person on Hot Air.

I support Cain.
I support Newt.
I support Romney.

BUT unlike you, I support them for logical reasons. Any of them are capable of beating Obama. And in the end, I will support that candidate who will beat Obama. I am not interested in making ridiculous ideological “statements” with my vote that only serve to help Obama get a second term and load up the SCOTUS with more progressives.

I hate it when one of our guys agrees to go on a show like Letterman and agrees to read the unfunny stuff they write for him/her. #6 in particular is something that Rick Perry would never have said. Makes him sound gay and we all know that the libs, despite protesting to the contrary, use gays like they use blacks and Jews every four years. It’s like clockwork.

Certain people sure get off being utter human garbage. Tell me CS and Rightman, are you so pathetic that you need to post such things to feel good about yourselves? Or did toturing animals lose it’s thril?

Perry didn’t need to do this. If you say you want to focus on serious issues you don’t become a prop in these throwaway TV venues. In fact, deciding to do this for Letterman is probably worse than the debate gaffe.

Voters are only going to forgive so much, so his positives have to outweigh these errors. Unfortunately, we’re not seeing it.

BUT unlike you, I support them for logical reasons. Any of them are capable of beating Obama. And in the end, I will support that candidate who will beat Obama. I am not interested in making ridiculous ideological “statements” with my vote that only serve to help Obama get a second term and load up the SCOTUS with more progressives.

csdeven on November 11, 2011 at 10:00 AM

So you support Cain, even though his big 999 idea came from Rich Lowry and Stephen Moore and his Chilean model for Social Security reform comes from…well…even you can figure that out.

So you support Romney ( of course ) ? I already said my piece on him where his one idea is hated by conservatives but adopted by Obama.

I am speaking specifically on your criticism of Perry for not “comning up with his own ideas”. In your bizarro world a Presidential candidate has no ideas if dares consult with think tanks and experts or revisit past proposals; he must reinvent the wheel each time and do it all by himself. Nevermind the outstanding Texas Economic record or that the other guys you support in the race do exactly as Perry has done. Going by your own ill thought out words, the only candidate you should be supporting is Gingrich.

The flip side to the brain freeze? All the free EXTENDED coverage Perry received today. He was on so many shows, given extended time to clarify his stances, it was amazing! I learned more about his beliefs in those interviews than I learned in the debates. I’ll trade a 53 second blunder any day to learn what I learned today! He wasn’t limited to 30 second responses. Talk about making lemonade…

herm2416 on November 11, 2011 at 12:21 AM

I agree..
He did look like a dumbass when it happened, but he is somewhat compelling when he is given time to expand on his views.
Can’t say as much for Cain…

My favorite one was “I had a five-hour energy drink, six-hours before”. I thought most of them were pretty cute. And Letterman being understanding — by describing how he had bombed himself the night before at an event for Brokaw — was unexpected (since he’s a jerk, lol).

My favorite interview of him out of the whole media blitz yesterday, was the one with Greta. I need to find a clip somewhere because I’d missed the beginning; but the rest was very substantive about the border especially and he apologized two more times about “you don’t have a heart”. Really good, serious interview which was a good balance for his lighter moments on Letterman.

Cain’s gotten a ton of free face time for the Politico hit piece, maybe Perry’s impression of a drunk is just smart politics to get attention. It’s certainly getting the YouTube videos a lot of hits, so it’s an attention grab in one regard, at least.

The whole thing was pretty funny, really. I liked the part where he was asking Ron Paul for help.

Perry: There were three departments… Umm …what was that third one?

Paul: no, five! Abolish FIVE!

bitsy on November 10, 2011 at 10:51 PM

Totally. Prior to the Tea Party, the whole “abolish alphabet agencies” schtick was Ron Paul’s trademark. It’s the height of irony that he got the chance to steal the spotlight back on the subject.

Knucklehead on November 10, 2011 at 9:51 PM

To think we were once friends.

What a cultist rhymes with twitch you’ve become.

annoyinglittletwerp on November 11, 2011 at 12:13 AM

Stay classy. I’m sure there are plenty of people who could say the exact same about you. Is Knucklehead going to life rent-free in your head the way Paul and Palin do? Or is Cain currently occupying the last available space there?